A Journal in Jade: The ‘ARCANA’ Diaries — Parting Thoughts

ARCANA, the latest alternate reality game (ARG) from the team that created All of Them Witches, kicked off on May 6 and concluded four weeks later.

Each week, NoPro’s Laura Hess, Blake Weil, and Kevin Gossett offered their thoughts on Jade’s story, the brain-bending puzzles, and any other creepy goings-on. This is the final entry in their collective diaries.

READ WEEK ONE, WEEK TWO, WEEK THREE, WEEK FOUR

Kevin

Now that we’ve covered the week-to-week of ARCANA, we wanted to spend some time talking through the game as a whole: what worked, what didn’t, and how it all fit together. Let’s get into it!

Blake

While I certainly liked some parts more than others, in the end, my main takeaway was that ARCANA was, at least in regards to our national reaction to social distancing, the right story for the time. AOTW described the challenges of rushing to get the story out during this time, not just as a replacement for earlier, postponed work, but as a specific artistic statement in and of itself. The fine line between telling a story about isolation—without making it a story about COVID-19—was traced with elegance.

The ingenuity of the limited, socially distanced sets and camerawork integrated into the story was seamless in all but a few places. But more than that, ARCANA tackled (through its patented mix of grizzly true-crime and zany ghost story) issues of isolation, trauma, community, and resilience during times of stress. Although I personally wanted the ending in which Providence was banished, having seen the alternate ending after the talkback, ARCANA’s ultimate message of hope after adversity (and, ironically, the fear that a desire to connect will revive that adversity) will stick with me as much as news reports and briefings given by Dr. Fauci: moments emblematic of the early days of COVID-19.

Kevin

As Blake said, ARCANA is inexorably linked with the ongoing pandemic and quarantine. On one hand, that’s a kind of unhappy association. On the other hand, it was an opportunity to offer entertainment (and a distraction) to people living through this pandemic while we don’t have access to in-person immersive theatre, theme parks, escape rooms, or even movies.

To that end, AOTW didn’t rush out a quick show. They thought through what it would mean to produce a show that was set during a pandemic and quarantine without it being directly about the whole situation. I found it to be really successful on all fronts. While playing, it seemed like they had put a lot of thought into how to make things safe and socially distanced for their actors and producers, which they confirmed in a talkback. On the game side, it was a fun and exciting show that allowed multiple points of entry, whether that was the story, the puzzles, or some combination of the two. Even though the pace didn’t always work for me, it feels like a relatively minor complaint in the grand scheme of things because everything else was put together so well. And, hey, the ARCANA was able to stick the landing because of their smart decisions around focusing the story on Jade and developing her relationship with those playing.

Laura

Blake and Kevin have rightfully cited AOTW’s care regarding COVID-19 safety precautions. It’s also essential to address inclusivity. On Slack, there was a deaf participant repeatedly requesting video transcriptions, which the other players then compiled. Since ARCANA’s videos often contained clues strategically placed amidst other objects, embedded captions could have obstructed key reveals or actions. During the post-show talkback, I asked the AOTW team about this specific issue and puzzle wizard Tommy Honton spoke about the team’s inclusivity considerations, which were thorough, especially given the game’s compressed development timeline.

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As mentioned previously in our ARCANA diary, AOTW set up both an in-world hints email and an out-of-world assistance email. These provided riddle clues and video transcripts, as well as aid for problems such as player harassment. For one particular puzzle, color was an integral component, so Tommy produced a separate version for those with color blindness. And AOTW was clear from the onset as to which characters and communications were in-world, providing important parameters for players as a practical gaming tool and as mental health safeguards.

Although the team constructed supportive avenues for players with disabilities, such as the email options (which the deaf participant also used), AOTW will be taking an expanded, proactive approach for future projects. Tommy clarified that they will be devising immediately available, integrated solutions from the development phase, rather than offering options for those with disabilities on more of an as-needed basis. With the goal of always improving, AOTW’s attention to detail for safety and inclusivity was excellent.

Blake

It’s always my goal as a critic not to ask whether a show hit my particular wants, but whether it succeeded in its aims (and whether those aims seem worthwhile). On both those counts, I rate ARCANA an overwhelming success. When the talkback confirmed that this was an exercise in providing some escape and distraction to a homebound, disconnected audience, you could see that intent throughout the work.

Reflecting on Laura’s talk of accessibility, though, my one hope is that as COVID-19 eases up and we return to more in person experiences, we don’t discard what we’ve learned here. ARCANA would be great regardless of circumstances, and even if I can leave the house and go to the theater, not everyone can. Beyond that, there are certain intimate horrors to having demons message you on your personal, everyday social media page that can’t be replicated in the material world. The inclusivity and thematic opportunities of remote work are just as valid and necessary during “normal” times as they are now, even if they don’t take as much of a focus. I’d be happy to engage with remote works whenever.

I’m also curious to discuss AOTW’s monetary model — while ARCANA was free, an auction of all the art made for the piece, a store, and donation links funded the production. Production value was fairly high; while not a blockbuster budget by any stretch, it was clear that real money was put into this.

For an art form that’s largely been explored as commercial art, I’m excited to see ARGs explore new funding models that allow for both large production scale and mass participation without relying on corporate sponsorship.

Kevin

I think that’s a great point, Blake. We’ve seen a lot of innovation come out of the current circumstances, and obviously, that’s been by necessity. But I hope all of the companies experimenting with new ways to reach their audiences continues into the future even once we can return to non-remote work. So many immersive shows are some combination of short runs, small audiences, and expensive ticket prices. Remote work like ARCANA gets around some of those issues and allows this work to be experienced by more people than a normal E3W show. Not to mention that the show wasn’t limited to people living in Los Angeles, or New Orleans, or willing to travel to either. In-person immersive work shouldn’t go away, but I would like to see it supplemented with more remote work.

I think I could go on and on about that topic, so I’ll bring it back to this show specifically. Everyone is experimenting and trying to crack the code of remote work, but it feels like AOTW did that to some degree with ARCANA. It was a great blend of puzzles and story that took advantage of multiple remote mediums including Instagram, email, and video content all while managing to create a strong investment from players to characters as they followed them through the weeks.

I’ve spilled a lot of ink over ARCANA at this point and feel like I’m going to start repeating myself, but I’m still taken with the show and the way the creative team brought a whole world to life over a few weeks.

ARCANA has concluded. Arcana is a creation of AOTW: Eva Anderson; Mali Elfman; Eric Hoff; Tommy Honton; and E3W Productions (Aaron Keeling, Austin Keeling and Natalie Jones).

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